The St. Johns herald., 1887-10-27
Commissioner Sparks on Fraudulent
 Land Entries.

| A Washington special to the San
 Francisco Examiner says: Land 1 Commissioner Sparks, in his an
 nual report, makes the following
 remarkable statement Bold, reck-
 less and gigantic schemes to rob the Government of it's lands have
 been discovered and exposed in every State and Territory contain ing public lands, and l think I can truthfully say that in every land district and county which special agent has visited systematic efforts to mislead and corrupt entrymen, in order that they might become in strumcnts in defrauding the Gov ernment, has been resorted to. Men of intelligence and high standing in the community, in many in stances millionaires, were the lead CTS in the transactions. Over 5,C0O cases have been discovered where perjury or subornation of perjury was committed"
 MT. Sparks was asked to give the names of parties referred to in the above. He said: "There are hun dreds, yes, thousands. I do not think it proper to attempt to give names. It is, with the duties de- volving upon me, nearly impossi- ble to hunt that up, and my work does not include that kind of per sonal controversy. I am trying to defeat their schemes, and find it is as much as one man can do. The allegations of the report are abso- lutely correct. If information is asked in specified cases it will be given, as everything in this office necessarily becomes public record"
 Being. questioned further, Mr. Sparks said that he thought it would be unfair to single out a few of these land thieves by name, and it would take several months to make a complete list of them.
 My report" he added, "only mildly states the case. The facts have not been exaggerated. I can substantiate all my allegations. I am doing what can to bring these rascals to justice, but 1 shall not engage in personal controversy with any one. In my report l only speak in general sense. To go into personalities would do no good and would only embarrass me in the performance of my duty and would subject me to endless mis- representations"
 But your charges are very di- rect. You say the systematic eff forts to mislead and corrupt entry men, in order that they might be- come instruments in defrauding the Government, have been reported to men of intelligence and high stand ing in the community. In many instances millionaires were the leaders in these unlawful transac-I tions."
 MT. Sparks then went on to say that the names of the men who had made fraudulent entries include John B. Alley of Boston, Stephen ". Dorsey, s. B. Elkins, Mr. stur- gis of the Union Stockyards Con- pany, 9 wealthy ranchman of Wyo- ming, the Benton syndicate of Ca,- ifornia, which included Q dozen or more prominent men, and Mont gomery of Washington Territory The department was after them all.
 Mr. Sturgis was one of the prin- cipal offenders There was no doubt he had forced one thousand of his employers to enter land for his benefit.
 In many cases, Mir, Sparks said, these fraudulent entries were back ed by Senators and members of Congress.
 Alley, Elkins and Dorsey had confined their operations chiefly to private land entries.
 A number of MeXicans were ar ..o.4ol =, lcfo,,o 0,, n oL,o~cro o z